


Biology and Church Choirs

by Daffodil5



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Religion, Religious Conflict, Slow Burn, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29336961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daffodil5/pseuds/Daffodil5
Summary: Haechan doesn't change himself for other people. He's loud, outspoken and smart.Mark is good at following rules, and he always tries his best to make his family proud.They could both be a huge help in each other's life.The only problem is that Haechan is a witch, and Mark is the son of a pastor.But after a they strike a deal together, they have to learn to get along. Put aside their differences for the greater good. And then they'll get on with their own lives. Separately.Because, they're too different to be friends.And nothing will change that.Nothing.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi,  
> this fic idea has been on my mind for months but there are some things you might want to know before reading.  
> 1) I am, at best, a baby witch. I barely know the tip of the iceberg when it comes to witchcraft/wicca. Haechan in this story has been practicing for a long time, so I'll try my best but I will probably be things wrong. Also I live in Europe and I am around a lot of folklore and pagan-ish beliefs, but these are not exactly the same as those in America. I'm trying to write from an American perspective but it's not my specialty.  
> 2) I am not a Presbyterian. However, I did grow up in a religious household and I live in a religious country. I was very Catholic, (I'm actually a Eucharistic Minister lol) so I have a lot of experiences with religious groups. I'll try to keep things realistic but again, if I mess up I'm sorry.  
> 3) I didn't go to Highschool in America. But I say I've consumed enough American Highschool media to write it okay. Also not from Colorado but I have a close friend from their, and I know what it's like to live in a small town.
> 
> TL;DR: I'm not a witch or protestant but I'll try my best to write it. Thanx 😘

Renjun’s eyebrows were scrunched together as he kept staring at the cards in front of him. His lips were drawn together and it was obvious he was unhappy.

Haechan tried to hide to roll of his eyes as he watched his friend. “I take it this wasn’t the reading you were hoping for?”

“How does the Ace of Pentacles factor into my reading? I’m looking for relationship advice.”

“I mean,” Haechan sighed as he tried to think of how the card could factor into Renjun’s questions. “It could mean a rich new relationship? Or maybe this person is rich. Either way, It’s still a good card.”

“So,” Renjun squints his eyes in thought. “If I tell this guy how I feel, we’ll form a rich relationship?”

Haechan shrugs. “I guess.”

They hear a loud shriek a few tables over, followed by one of the popular Junior girls and a gaggle of her friends rushing towards the bathroom with a large brown cola stain down the front of her shirt.

Renjun shakes his head. “This is stupid, how are we supposed to do a reading in a cafeteria? I can barely hear myself think in here there’s no way I'd be able to get a good reading.”

Haechan takes a slurp from his own drink, plain water from the drinking fountain. It tastes like metallic ass but he has a soda addiction he needs to kick before his blood turns to glucose. “Well don’t blame me, you’re the one who wanted to eat inside on a beautiful, sunny afternoon.”

“Oh yeah, cause it’s _my_ fault the benches outside give me back pain.”

“What are you, 70?”

Renjun replied only with a soft punch to Haechan’s bicep. “Ow,” Haechan said, putting on a mock hurt voice. “that hurt Injunnie...”

Mercifully for Renjun the bell rang before Haechan could continue on his childish tirade. “I better go, I gotta get to class before Chenle and Yangyang get into another fight over Stephan Curry.”

“You sure you don’t need me to come with you for emotional support?” Haechan said as he began packing away his Tarot deck.

“Haechan, you can’t keep showing up to Biology 20 minutes late.”

Haechan scoffed. “Please, Henderson should be glad I show up at all.”

“I’m serious!” Renjun said. “If you get one more Saturday detention I will drop you as my best friend and become besties with Chenle and Yangyang.” He turned away and began walking towards the hallway for the language rooms, students crowding around so they’re not late for their next class.

Despite Renjun’s warning, Haechan was in no rush to get to Biology. He waited for the students walking towards the Science building to thin out a little, and then began taking a leisurely stroll towards the classroom. 

Annie used to say (and still does from time to time) that he has a ‘brass neck’. Which basically means he does what he wants and doesn’t care about getting in trouble. Kinda, at least that’s how he took it. But Haechan doesn’t really see this as fair. He’s a self-proclaimed ‘weird’ person. Not in a melodramatic teenage ‘no one understands me’ way but in a point-blank, factual way. His life isn’t the same as most people’s in Washington Heights. The only way you can live with other people thinking you’re strange, is to be strange unapologetically. The only thing he will admit he has a problem with is authority. He has no trouble working with people who treat him with respect, and he’s a hard worker too! But if some asshole thinks they can treat him like crap, just because they think they’re better than him, he’s not going to put up with that.

That’s why he hates Biology so much. He had Biology for a semester last year, and he has it again this year, same teacher same shit. Haechan knew, right off the bat that he and Mr. Henderson were not going to get along. Because on his first Biology class in 9th grade Mr. Henderson had said he wasn’t allowed to wear eyeliner in his class. Which was definitely not school policy, because Haechan had poured over the school dress code that summer trying to figure out just what he could get away with fashion-wise. And the other girls in the class were wearing makeup without comment.

That’s when the ‘Biology battles’, as Renjun called them, began. First, it was doing a full make of makeup exclusively on days he had biology. Mr. Henderson threatened dress code violations, detentions, suspensions. But every time he opened his mouth Haechan would defend himself, saying he was doing nothing wrong. He never got suspended for wearing makeup, he was only sent to the principal’s office once, which was probably only meant to be a scare tactic because the principal wouldn’t even see him over such a stupid issue, and he returned 10 minutes later to class, wearing a different coral-orange lipstick.

Eventually Mr. Henderson came to the realisation that his bi-weekly showdowns with a flamboyant 15 year old were impairing his ability to teach, because unless Haechan was prodded he was mostly studious and quiet in class. Instead, he began giving out detentions to him, after every class. Again for dress-code violations. Haechan tried bringing it up to the principal, but it never worked. He tried running out of class before Mr. Henderson could write him his detention, but then he’d get double for trying to evade punishment.

Haechan had optimistically thought Mr. Henderson would calm his hatred of him in sophomore year. But nooo. Robert Henderson just hated the sight of him. And since the new school year had started 3 weeks ago, he already had 9 detentions to his name. One for every class. Honestly it was almost impressive, if Haechan had actually done anything to deserve those punishments. But the only crime he was guilty of was bending masculine societal roles.

Ulysses S. Grant High (USG) wasn’t at all spectacular. The teachers and students were run-of-the-mill. But if it had one endearing trait Haechan adored, it was its design. The school was made up of several buildings all connected by short outdoor trails. On sunny afternoons like today the offered both a literal and figurative ray of light on Haechan’s otherwise miserable afternoon.

He looked towards the gates out of the school. He was already five minutes late to class, he could just ditch this period and go hangout in the nearby forest. He’d be back for his next class, get the homework off someone, it was tempting.

A guilty sigh escaped him. Renjun was right, he couldn’t just keep letting Renjun waste his Saturdays by himself because he was in detention. Renjun had never gotten a detention in his life. And he never ditched any of his classes, no matter how much he hated them.

Dismally, Haechan turned back towards the science buildings. Last class this week, it’d be fine. Do it for Renjun.

As expected Mr. Henderson gave Haechan a death glare the moment he stepped inside the classroom. Haechan didn’t bother returning the favour, instead dragging himself over to his usual seat silently.

“Haechan, how nice.” Mr. Henderson drawled. “So, you finally decided to grace my class with your lovely presence.”

Haechan rolled his eyes as he took out his books. He hated the way Mr. Henderson said his name. You could always tell from his tone that he didn’t like how ‘nonsensical’ (non-English) it sounded.

“Would you care to tell the class where you’ve been the past 10 minutes?” He said.

God does he not get tired of this shit? Every week. It’s only 12:30, don’t old people get tired more easily?

“Not really.” It took every ounce of self-control Haechan had not to give a more disrespectful reply.

“You realise just earned yourself a detention, right?”

“Yes.” Again, Haechan had to use a herculean amount of self-control not to turn this into a bigger fight. Renjun needed him this Saturday. Just remember Renjun.

“Yes _Mr. Henderson_. But since you’re here go join Leigh Ann for today’s experiment.”

Haechan dragged his books and bags over a few tables to sit next to her. Experiments were usually fine, and Leigh Ann wasn’t bad at Biology so there shouldn’t be any issues with their results.

“What page are we on?” He whispered.

“204” She said, looking up at the whiteboard where Mr. Henderson was writing something.”

“No talking!” He boomed. No one was talking, just Haechan and Leigh Ann. Dude really went out of his way to get him in trouble over anything. Haechan bit his lip to stop himself letting out a sigh. He flicked through the illustrated pages of his textbook looking for the right page. Unfortunately, when he found it, he realised he was gonna be in some shit.

“Now that you’re all sophomores,” Mr. Henderson said as he turned back around to the class. “We can begin our dissections of live animals.”

Haechan looked at the disembowelled frog in his textbook, heart sinking in a mixture of disgust and disappointment. Looks like he’d have to scrap those Saturday plans after all.

“I understand that some of you may be sensitive to these kinds of experiments. But this write-up accounts for 25% of your final grade for this term, and I expect you all to complete it.” Mr. Henderson was strutting back and forth at the top of the room watching the class like a general. “Unless any of you have a serious objection to the experiment.”

Haechan resentfully raised his hand. Eyes locked on the table in front of him.

Mr. Henderson sighed loudly. “Haechan, why am I not surprised?” God if you could punch voices Haechan would’ve kicked the crap out of Henderson’s. “What excuse do you have for not participating in class today?”

You’d think Haechan never lifted a finger in Biology. It was one of his best subjects. Haechan loved science and not even Mr. Henderson could ruin that. He did all his work and aced his tests, he just didn’t go to class that much.

“I can’t do this experiment.”

“Yes you can.” Mr. Henderson said. “Your guardians all received and signed a permission slip for this class over the summer.” Oh nice one Robert, I see what you did there with the ‘guardians’ part. Douchebag.

“Well I wasn’t informed that we would be cutting up live animals. I can’t do the experiment.”

“Haechan you’re 16. Being squeamish is not an excuse.”

This man was going to give Haechan a fucking aneurysm one day. “It’s not that I’m squeamish, it’s against my religion.”

Mr. Henderson looked at him dumbstruck, and Haechan knew the rest of the class must’ve been watching him with the exact same expression.

“It’s against your religion?” He said slowly. Looking at Haechan for hints he was lying.

“Yes” He said.

“And if you don’t mind me asking what religion would that be?”

Haechan did mind a little. “Wiccan.”

“Wiccan?” Mr. Henderson repeated. “I don’t think that’s a real religion.”

Haechan could feel his face getting hot with anger. “Wicca is a religion, and we don’t hurt living animals. Especially if we can’t give them a respectful burial when they’re dead.”

Mr. Henderson rolled his eyes as Haechan spoke. “Do you have a note from your guardian explaining that you’re a Wiccan?”

Of course he didn’t. He didn’t know they’d be dissecting live animals today so how could he tell Annie? “No.”

“Well then why would I let you get a free pass on this experiment?” Because I still had some hope you weren’t a complete shithead, Robert. “Either do the experiment or lose 25% of your grade, the choice is yours.”

Haechan could feel the veins on his neck bulging. He wasn’t doing this fucking experiment. And he’d be killed all semester trying to make up the grade with extra credit. God he hated Henderson so goddamn much.

“Anyone else have any issues.” Haechan slumped in his chair, sulking to himself. He vaguely heard Mr. Henderson say something to another student.

“Uh, sir, I’m sorry but I don't think I can do this experiment either. It's against my religion too.” Haechan’s ears couldn’t help perking up at that. He swung his head around to look at the student who said it.

He was new, he hadn’t been in Haechan’s freshman Biology class last year. Actually, he didn’t think he was in any of Haechan’s classes before. He looked vaguely familiar though.

Mr. Henderson didn’t say anything back immediately. A rarity for him, even to his other student’s he wasn’t the friendliest of teachers.

“Oh,” He said finally. “How so?”

“Uh, I’m a Presbyterian,” He said shyly. “I don’t believe in harming animals unjustly. Um, my family only kill animals for nourishment.”

Everyone in the room held their breath waiting for Mr. Henderson to say something.

“Huh, well,” He cleared his throat. “Mark do you have a letter from a parent?”

“Ah, no,” The boy scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t know we would be dissecting animals today. Actually, I didn’t know we’d be doing it this year at all.” The second sentence was harder to make out because he had said it a lot quicker and softer than the first one.

Mr. Henderson rubbed the gross, spikey stubble on his chin as he thought. “Well, Mark. I suppose I’ll take your word for it. Bring in an explanation from your parents next class and you can make up the credit on another project. You can go study in the Library.”

Haechan didn’t breathe, he barely heard Mark utter a soft ‘thank you’ to his massive, fucking douchebag bastard of a Biology teacher. He felt like a goddamn Lonny Toons character with a red face and steam coming out of his ears. He was apoplectic, incensed, enraged. He was every stupid synonym for angry he had ever used in an English essay!

“Wait how is that fair?” Haechan said as he got out of his chair. Fuck not getting detention on Saturday, he’d make it up to Renjun. “Why are you allowing him to sit out the experiment and not me?”

“Haechan sit down.”

“I shouldn’t have to do this experiment either, it conflicts with my beliefs!”

“Haechan if you don’t sit down right now I will send you to Mr. Hall.”

“Go ahead, you want me to tell the principal you’re discriminating against me on spiritual grounds?” Haechan had no idea if Mr. Hall would actually help him, in fact he was pretty certain he wouldn’t. But I mean, that was literally what was happening.

“Sir,” Mark’s voice unexpectedly joined in. “I’m not trying to be disrespectful or anything. But, neither of us knew we’d be doing this experiment today. So um, it’d be a little unfair for Haechan to lose 25% of his grade…”

Mr. Henderson glanced at Mark, before staring back at Haechan. This time Haechan glared right back at him.

Mr. Henderson grunted out an annoyed noise.

“Normally, I’d never make exceptions for not doing classwork. Especially for troublemakers.” He spat. “But, Mark, I trust your intuition. Haechan, you don’t have to do the experiment. But you do have to do extra credit to make up for it.”

Did Haechan hear that right? Had Mr. Henderson not done something shitty to him for the first time in two years?

“Both of you go study in the Library, and Mark, make sure he actually goes with you.”

Haechan couldn’t believe what has just happened. Not only had he got out of doing an immoral experiment, but he had got out of it without getting a Saturday detention! Holy shit maybe God was real! No, never mind. But still, this was awesome!

He wasted no time in packing up his books and rushing into the courtyard to join the other boy, who he would forever be thankful to.

“Hey thanks a lot back there!” Haechan said. “I really appreciate you sticking up for me.”

The boy turned his head towards him as they walked. “Oh, no problem. Don’t mention it.”

“Name’s Haechan by the way.” Haechan said, sticking his hand out.

“Mark.” He said, shaking the outstretched hand. Mark was kinda cute. Or maybe Haechan just thought he was because he wasn’t an outright douche. He had really sharp, high cheekbones that looked like they poked out of his face. In an attractive way. He was slightly taller than Haechan, another plus. He had really pretty brown puppy-dog eyes. He was really cute actually.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you in any other classes. Are you new?”

“Uh, no.” Mark replied, he had a nice enough voice too. Haechan thought he might have a stutter considering the way he had spoken to Mt. Henderson, but that might’ve been nerves.

“Oh, so is Biology like, your only science subject?” It wasn’t unheard of, but if you did one science subject at USG you usually did another.

“No.” He said hesitantly. “I’m a Junior.”

Now that did throw Haechan off.

“Huh, really,” Haechan debated if he should ask a follow-up question, but his curiosity decided for him. “How come you’re in a Sophomore Biology class then?”

Immediately the ‘you sound like an asshole’ alarm went off in his brain. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer that.”

“No don’t worry,” Mark chuckled lightly. Damn he had a cute laugh too, fuck. “It’s nothing personal, I just completely suck at Biology, and I didn’t pass it last year.”

Haechan felt his heart twinge a little when he heard him say that. Another year with Henderson would be a fate worse than death to him. “That sucks man.”

Mark shrugged half-heartedly. “It’s not too bad, well, I mean up until I just tanked 25% of my grade by refusing to do that experiment.”

Haechan couldn’t think of a good way to respond to that. To instead he took a risk and pointed out the strangest part of this whole situation. “Well, on the bright side, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen Ol’ Hendy like anyone as much as you.” He chuckled to himself, and his laugh sounded too high-pitched and grating compared to Mark’s.

He saw Mark’s ears flush a little red. Shit shit shit he had embarrassed Mark and himself shit. “Ha, um thanks?”

The Library was right in front of them now and Haechan’s heart sank a little. He didn’t want his conversation with Mark to end, despite how awkward it was. He heard Mark sigh quietly as he walked closer to the front doors. He didn’t seem keen on studying either. Immediately an idea crossed Haechan’s mind.

“Hey,” He licked his lips nervously as Mark looked at him. “How about we skip this period, I know a place we can chill.”

Mark’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Haechan. “Why would we do that? We’ll get in trouble.”

Haechan waved a hand at Mark’s worries. “It’ll be fine,” He said, drawing out the ‘I’ in ‘fine’. “People barely even know this place exists. You don’t actually wanna spend forty minutes studying in the library do you?”

“Actually I have a lot of homework I could get done. And besides, I can’t let you just skip class.”

Ok, not to be rude but Mark’s attractiveness was disappearing by the syllable.

Haechan suppressed an eye-roll as he looked at Mark. “Oh come on dude, just this one time? I’ll make it up to you.”

“Mr. Henderson told me to make sure you come with me.”

Haechan had to take a second to look at Mark. “Seriously, what are you guys best friends or something? He’s not gonna know.”

“He’s going to ask me about it at practice I’m on the soccer team.”

Haechan hoped his eyes didn’t widen too much when Mark said that. Everything was starting to make sense now. Henderson was the varsity soccer coach, that’s why he liked Mark. Maybe Jeno mentioned Mark before and that’s how Haechan knows him. Mark wouldn’t know who he is though, right? No that’s ridiculous, why would Jeno be talking about him at practice. They probably just talk about sports and girls and stuff, not their weird cousins.

“Wow,” Haechan said. “Wouldn’t have pegged you for a snitch.”

Mark’s ears reddened again as he looked at him. “Hey I’m not a snitch!”

“You’re going to tell our teacher that I skipped class. That’s snitching. You’re a snitch.”

“Don’t be immature, I’m only doing what I was asked to do.”

“He’s not gonna know either way.”

"But he asked me personally."

“Well,” Haechan shrugged at Mark. “I’m not studying for the rest of class. You can go in if you want, send Hendy my love.” Haechan threw a peace sign up at Mark as he turned his back and began walking towards the school’s exit.

Mark wasn’t gonna follow him, but maybe he shamed him enough not to rat him out to Henderson after school. He could hear Mark let out a huff from behind him as he walked away. It hadn’t rained for a while so the woods shouldn’t be damp now, he could finish that sketch-

“Wait!” Haechan whipped his head around to see Mark jogging towards him. “Fine, I’ll come with.”

Strange. “Are you that desperate to procrastinate on homework?” Haechan smirked.

“No,” Mark said. “I just, don’t want you getting in trouble. It doesn’t reflect well on me.”

“Oh no worries, no teachers will find us. They never come out here.” Haechan smiled at Mark and turned back towards the tall trees behind the school.

“Where are we going exactly?” Mark asked.

“Just a place I come to with my friends.”

“This is where you hang out with your friends?” Mark’s said looking at the logs placed around a burned-out fire pit.

“Yup. Usually I just read or draw.” It’s completely debateable whether or not Haechan should be talking about his hobbies to Mark. But not all jocks are bad, Jeno’s technically a jock. And even if Mark is a jock he doesn’t seem like an asshole.

“Cool.” Mark said after a long pause.

Haechan took out his sketchbook as he sat down on the log that was getting the most sunlight. It was a little dark with the branches of the trees only allowing specks of sunlight to filter this far down. Birds were chirping quietly in the branches above them. The air was cool and had a slight smell of earth and plants. He could feel the stresses of the day slowly leave his body as he breathed in all the nature around him.

“What, um,” Haechan glanced at Mark, who was sitting across from him on a log. “do you burn in that pit?”

Haecahn furrowed his brows in confusion. “Uh, wood. I guess. Why?”

“Oh, cause like,” Mark laughed awkwardly. “I just thought you might like, use it for like witchcraft or something.” Mark continued laughing but Haechan felt a little confused.

“Why would you think that?”

“Just cause you said you were a pagan. I wasn’t sure if you were being serious or not.”

“I was being serious.”

Mark’s face paled as he looked at Haechan. “Huh?”

“I was being serious. I’m a witch, and I practice witchcraft.”

It was like Mark’s face was frozen. He just kept staring at him. Finally he recovered from his shock, shook his head and blinked at Haechan. “You’re joking right?”

“No,” Haechan said in the most neutral, serious voice he could. “I’m literally a witch.”

Mark didn’t say anything for a while. He just looked at Haechan. The conversation was a little redundant so Haechan went back to shading in his drawing.

“How are you a witch?” Mark blurted out.

Haechan shrugged his shoulders with a laugh. “My Mom I guess?”

“But, _how?_ Witches don’t exist anymore.”

“Well, you’re currently looking at one…”

Mark ran a hand through the front of his hair. His inability to understand that witches, were in fact, real was apparent with the utter confusion displayed on his face.

There are a wide spectrum of reactions someone can have when you tell them you’re a witch. On the far end you have people decrying you as a heretic and shouting that you’re going to hell. Which is uncommon and mostly only the reaction from middle-aged conservative Evangelicals. There are people who are really interested and want to find out all about your beliefs. But from Haechan’s personal experience there’s like a 1 in 7 chance these people are conspiracy theorists who want to know if you’re part of the Illuminati. Both of these reactions suck, but the one bright side they have is that they’re at least interesting. The most common reaction is when people don’t know anything about wicca or witchcraft, and proceed to ask you a million questions about your beliefs. Which is never interesting, and has a 50/50 chance of them thinking you’re weird and never talking to you again.

Based of Mark’s questions he seems like the latter group.

“So you worship the devil?”

Haechan sighed. There goes any time for sketching he wanted to do. “No, I don’t worship the devil. I don’t believe in the devil. I’m just a witch.”

“But you need to believe in the devil to be a witch.”

“Not necessarily, witches get their powers through the energies of the universe. They use witchcraft to harness these energies.”

“But,” Mark pressed his lips together before he spoke. “magic isn’t real.”

Was he about to be an asshole? Was he really about to be the asshole here? This guy could be a friend of Jeno. Haechan glanced at the clock on his phone. 20 minutes until the next class started. He was going to be an asshole.

“Isn’t the Bible all magic though?”

Mark stood up from his seat. “Hey, what are you saying?”

Haechan clicked his tongue. “Didn’t you say you’re Pres-something or whatever? That’s Christianity. And doesn’t god preform magic in the bible?”

Mark’s face was flushing red. “There is a, HUGE difference between what happens in the bible and witchcraft!”

“Yeah, we still haven’t figured out how to turn water into wine.” Haechan laughed at his own joke.

“Don’t make fun of my religion.” Mark was standing less than a foot in front of Haechan now. “For your information Jesus performed miracles. They were divine gifts to be given to his people in their time of need.

Haechan stood up with a smile on his face. “But see that’s magic! In your time of need what do you do? You pray. You ask Jesus for help and guidance, and when we face hardships we perform magic to seek help from the universe.”

Mark broke eye contact first. He turned his head to the side and walked back to pick up his backpack.

“Look, believe whatever. But my religion is really important to me so don’t try to make fun of it. Jesus wasn’t a wizard, this isn’t Harry Potter. My church does a lot of good things for other people. We like, volunteer and raise money for charity. We do a lot of good, and you have no right to disrespect it.”

Haechan’s face felt a little hot with shame. He knew what it was like to make fun of your beliefs, and clearly this was something important to Mark. Important enough to stop him from doing a project. Fuck why did he choose to be an ass?

“Mark, for what it’s worth.” Haechan hesitated. “I never meant to make fun of your religion. I was being completely sincere when I said our beliefs were similar. Sorry.”

Mark pulled his arms through the holes in his backpack. “I’m gonna go, Haechan.”

Brown, yellow and red leaves crunched under Mark’s feet as made his way back to the school. Haechan checked his watch to see he still had another 10 minutes before English and pulled out his sketchbook again. The crunches stopped, and when Haechan looked up he saw Mark quickly turn his head away from him again. “Thanks for showing me this place. It’s nice.”

He was speaking normally but because of the distance Haechan could barely hear him. Nevertheless it felt good that Mark didn’t hate him, and loudly he shouted back “SEE YOU LATER!”

Mark began walking again, quicker than before. By the time Haechan got back to the school Mark was nowhere in sight. No one had realised he was gone. English was mind-numbingly boring, but bearable. And the rest of the day passed without incident.

But that night Haechan thought about Mark. Which was weird for him. Guys don’t usually take up Haechan’s time. Sure they’re hot, but he hasn’t had a crush in years. And Mark? It’s nothing special, they’ve had about 3 conversations only 1 of which was positive. But maybe he was onto something. Mark must be a part of the local protestant church since Jeno and Annie are Catholic. Catholics never have much volunteering jobs available, but maybe he could get one in Mark’s church. Worth a shot, anything to boost his college application. Come to think of it they might even have scholarships! That would be incredible. Okay, tomorrow he’ll check out their website.

Mark's breath heaved with fire as he stared down at the grass below him. Sweat was pouring down his face and he brought his hand up to wipe it from his face.

He needed a haircut, his fringe was disgustingly plastered to his forehead.

He closed his eyes in ecstasy when he finally heard the shrill sound of Mr. Henderson's whistle. He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he walked back to the locker room, as he walked past Mr. Henderson curtly reminding the rest of the team about the upcoming match with Boulder High.

"Mark, hang back a second!"

He almost let out a sigh when he heard his name, but stopped himself just in time lest he earn another few laps around the football field.

"Everything okay coach?"

"Everything great Mark," Mr. Henderson let out a hoarse, deep laugh and clapped a hand on his bicep. "That was the fastest time I've ever seen someone run on the obstacle course!"

Mark was glad his face was read from practice because he could tell some of that heat came from his perpetually stern coach's praise. "Thank you sir."

"Don't push yourself too hard. We need you in your best condition against Boulder, and I can tell you really worked hard this week."

"I did, Sir."

"I admire your strength, but the progress you've been making so far is good enough. You're the captain, if you're that stuck on something to do work on getting the rest of the team in shape, Avery missed almost a third of his goals today."

"Yes, Sir."

"There's only so much a nucleus can do if none of your protons work, huh?" Mr. Henderson laughed again and Mark awkwardly joined him. Nothing about science could bring him joy not even jokes. Even if he did understand it (which is, embarrassingly, an improvement).

Any leftover heat from the day's sun had fully disappeared once he stepped onto the student parking lot after his shower. His car (Cherry) a beat up, red, hand-me-down Audi from Johnny, which he ‘lovingly’ gifted him when he left for college. Johnny had kept the car impeccable while he had it but with the daily errands, soccer practice and general laziness the interior now had a layer of dust and fast food on most surfaces, with a faint smell of post-practice sweat and an ancient air freshener.

Cherry’s engine grumbled with age as he switched on the ignition. Just as he was about to get on the road his phone vibrated in the cup holder.

_Dad: Come over we need help putting up the benches in the practice room._

Mark clicked his tongue in annoyance.

_I’ll be right over, I’m still at the school._

Figures he couldn’t even go home after a hard week at practice. Why couldn’t Dad have just gotten someone to help him put them up earlier? It was a Friday night and Mark was stuck doing housework for the church, instead of literally anything else.

Washington Heights Presbyterian Church was a triangular, red-brick building with an intimidating spire jutting out from above the front entrance. The community centre at the back had a kitchen and several small rooms for holding religious meet-ups during the week, most of which Mom and Dad oversaw.

Dad was already standing outside the back door when Mark pulled up, jacket over his black blazer. Mark got out quickly to walk over with him to the storage shed to get the benches.

“Hey,” Dad said. “What took so long?”

Mark shrugged. “Coach wanted to talk a little after practice.” Dad let out a short ‘hmm’, which Mark understood as shorthand for ‘elaborate’. “He said I’m improving substantially,” Dad’s keyring jangled as he got leafed through to find the one for the shed. “If I keep up the work, and keep everyone on track we could be state champions.”

Dad turned his head to glance at him as he turned on the light switch. “That so?” He smiled. “You think you could really beat those Boulder kids?”

“His words not mine.”

Dad laughed again. “Humility is a virtue, Mark. What did he mean by ‘keeping everyone on track’.”

“You know, just the usual.” Mark squatted down and picked up the other end of the bench, walking backwards with his Dad to bring it inside. “Avery needs to work harder, if anyone starts slacking this game could slip right out of our reach.”

Dad hummed again, this time his ‘thinking of an inspirational passage hum. “When you find it hard to lead people, often it’s best to look at the example of the greatest leader of men. How would Jesus lead your team?”

Mark’s lips pursed as he thought, placing the bench in the big practice room for the choir and walking back with Dad. “He’d try to show them through example first of all,” Mark saw the back of his Dad’s head nod at this. “Then, I guess he’d like, try and inspire them through his words.”

“And how would he do that?” Dad was bending down, waiting for Mark at the other end.

“Parables?” Mark said. “Though, I don’t really think that would necessarily work in this situation.”

“Never underestimate the power of stories,” Dad said. “Sure maybe you might not be able to preach the word of Lord at practice, but people listen to those who can harness potential and direct it.” Mark couldn’t look at his Dad’s face while walking, but he was listening to every word.

“The Holy spirit works through people in different ways, and every person has it.” Dad’s voice was beginning to slip into his sermon lilt, dramatic pauses and emphasis and all. “No matter how black the wool we are all lambs of God, and every person has the potential to be guided by God.”

Mark nodded his head and tried to follow what his Dad was saying. The speech went on for a few more minutes but Mark didn’t see how his Dad’s advice could really help right now. There’s only so much Jesus a high schooler could bring into a non-religious team activity before his teammates got sick of him. But like all advice his Dad gave him he could still try to follow his advice without making it explicitly religious. Unite the team under a common goal and inspiration, he could do that. And he will, he was the captain for a reason, after all.

When they finally brought the rest of the benches inside, and assembled them so they’d be ready for Choir practice next week Dad reached to scruff up Mark's hair.

“Easier than last year huh? Getting stronger every day, you should ask John to arm wrestle when he gets back.”

Mark let out a loud laugh at that. The dumbbells in the weight room must’ve paid off more than he expected but there was no way he would be able to arm wrestle Johnny anytime soon.

Mom was talking to someone in her office with the door open, peaking from around the corner Mark could see they were dressed in a Subway uniform. Which was… strange, people don’t normally come to the church straight after work. They at least dress properly. Mom turned her head in his direction and before he had time to duck away she had already called his name.

“Mark, come meet the newest member of the choir!”

Mark was in shock. His eyes must be deceiving him right now.

“Actually we’ve met before Mrs. Lee,” That familiar voice said, a voice he had been hearing every other day the whole term. “Mark and I are in the same Biology class.”

“Oh really?” Mom beamed at the boy in front of her. “Well that’s fantastic, you have plenty in common then!”

Whatever lies this kid, who less than two days ago was claiming to be a witch, had told Mom to allow him to join a Christian choir must’ve been really good. Somehow he looked even weirder in a Subway uniform than in his normal… fashion? At least he wasn’t wearing any lipstick right now, none that Mark could see anyway. Was this a joke to him? What was wrong with this guy?

“Mark, aren’t you going to greet our new member.”

Muscle memory caused Mark to shoot out his hand towards Haechan. “Welcome.” He mumbled.

“Thank you.” Haechan shook his hand graciously.

“I never knew you were Presbyterian.” Mark couldn’t help the small irritation in his voice at the dig.

Mom coughed. “Actually Haechan is still undecided in his beliefs, Mark.”

“I’ve been looking for a sense of meaning these past few years,” Haechan said. “And I started thinking, maybe the right option is actually the most simple one. Yesterday I saw that your church was still looking for people for their annual choir competitions and I realised,” Haechan laughed. “Maybe this is a sign. Maybe God wants me to use my voice to find other people who can guide me when I need help. I’m not 100% sure I’m Presbyterian, but I want to find a way to honour and worship God so that I can build a relationship that will last in this life and the next.”

Jesus Christ (sorry) this kid could be a fucking (sorry) conman.

“You’re absolutely right Haechan,” Mom said. “And Pastor David and I are so excited to help you along your journey with God.” She’s buying this?

“Thank you Ma’am,” _Ma’am?_ Seriously? Where did this respect suddenly come from? “I can’t wait to meet everyone next Tuesday. But I better get going now or I’ll be late for the bus.”

“You’re taking the bus home?” Mom said.

“Oh it’s not far, just a few stops and I walk the rest of the way.”

“Sweetheart it’s pitch black out there. Mark you drive him home.”

Mark spluttered a little. “Actually Mom I really need to get home I have homework.”

“And Haechan doesn’t?” She scoffed.

“Really Ma’am it’s no issue.”

“Nonsense you’re a member of our flock now, we help each other out. Mark you take him home and that’s the end of that.”

The car was buzzing with Haechan’s presence as they drove down the unlit road to the Suburbs. This all felt weirdly personal to Mark, he’d explain the situation to his parents later but now he was forced to do Haechan a favour. One they both seemed uncomfortable with. Haechan’s leg was bouncing, either due to nerves or Cherry’s busted heating, he seriously needed to fix that before Winter.

The nerve, the audacity of Haechan. Mark has spent _years_ being ridiculed for being the pastor’s son, and he wasn’t about to let some pipsqueak sophomore make jokes at his expense. Not happening. Mom was going to get a real earful when she got home.

“Thanks for driving me home.” Haechan said suddenly.

Mark gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Don’t mention it.”

“Mrs. Lee was nice but you don’t have to make this a regular thing.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

They sat in silence for another minute, until Haechan turned his head towards him. “So what kinda songs do you guys usually sing?”

Mark took a deep breath in. What would Johnny do in this situation? Johnny would be straightforward, just ask Haechan why he was doing this. Tell him that Christianity isn’t a joke.

Be like Johnny.

“Why did you do this?” Mark blurted out, louder than he had meant to.

Haechan looked at him without speaking. Quickly his expression changed from shock to annoyance. “I want to join your choir? Duh. It counts as volunteer work and it would look good on a college application.”

Mark scoffed at him. “Is that it? You won’t last one day with us we start off every meeting with a prayer.”

Haechan shrugged his shoulders. “I’ve done worse, I can’t even count the number of Saturday mornings I spent scraping gum from the bottom of desks, this is a piece of cake in comparison.”

“You can’t just, decide to join our church on a whim!”

“Oh I’m not joining your church.” Haechan laughed and Mark had to really concentrate to keep his eyes on the road.

“You have to be Presbyterian to be in a Presbyterian choir.”

“Well what the Pastor doesn’t know can’t hurt him right? I’m a convincing actor.”

Mark took deep breaths to steady his breathing. “You are not welcome, at our choir, at our services, or within 50 feet of our church.” Mark knew he’d have to ask Haechan for the directions soon since he could see the streetlights flickering ahead from the turn into the suburbs. “I’m telling the Pastor to not let you join as soon as you get out of this car.”

The tension is the air was palpable, but Mark was happy to get that all off his chest. For once, for the first time Mark had seen Haechan on the first day of school when he was talking back to Mr. Henderson, he was silent.

“Which house is yours?”

“Just drop me on Alpine drive, I doubt you want to be seen with me.”

Mark’s face went a little red at being insulted like that, but what was worse was that he was right. Mark didn’t want to be seen with the weird witch guy from his school. He didn’t want to be associated with a social pariah.

Mark stopped at the beginning of the street, waiting for Haechan to get out and get on with another boring night at home. But Haechan was hesitating.

“What’s wrong?” He sighed.

“What’s your GPA?” Haechan said looking him in the eye.

Mark faltered for a moment, definitely not expecting that to come out of the Brunette’s mouth. “Uh, why do you care?”

“What is the function of a ganglion in the human spinal cord?”

“Haechan get out of my car!”

“Mark please, listen to me for a second.” Haechan softened his voice. Against Mark’s better instincts, he began to listen.

“I have a 4.0 GPA, I’m either going to be a biomedical engineer or a doctor. You’re repeating a sophomore-level biology class and the teacher loves you so, no offence, but you must really suck at it.”

Mark swallowed down his anger. “So?”

“We could help each other. I need volunteer work to make up for my detentions and you need help in Biology.”

He actually needed help with a lot more than just Biology, the sports scholarship he was banking on was very precariously placed upon his 2.0 GPA and one bad test could cost him his ticket out of his hometown.

But, what? Haechan was offering to tutor him? “What’s the catch?”

“No catch!” Haechan put his arms up defensively. “We’re just helping each other out, I won’t charge you. I’ll tutor you so that you pass Biology with flying colours and you just don’t tell the Pastor or Mrs. Lee that I’m only in this choir for my college application.”

“You want me, to abandon my ethics, to pass a class?”

“C’mon Mark, It’s not like I’m asking you to help me cover up a murder. It’s just a little quid pro quo we both seek to benefit from. What’s so wrong with that?”

Mark didn’t want to be drawn into Haechan’s offer, but there was little denying, it was tempting. Very Tempting. “What makes you think you can teach me?”

“I helped my cousin study loads of times, he went from a D to an A- in Chemistry within a few weeks. If I can’t teach you no one can.”

Mark pursed his lips. Would it _really_ be so bad? What Haechan had in mind was a means to an end, and Mark had equal leverage over him. As soon as this semester was over, and they weren’t in the same class anymore, he could tell his parents then. Say he only just found out. It would be fine.

“You really think you could teach me?”

A wide smile broke out on Haechan’s large lips, so big it could crack his face. “I _know_ I can.” Haechan opened his door and stepped halfway out. “So I’ll take that as a yes?”

Mark nodded his head. This time Haechan was the one stretching out a hand, which Mark shook.

“Meet me at the front of the library on Sunday, 5pm.” With that, his face disappeared. Haechan began to walk up towards whichever house was his. Black Subway uniform glowing under the orange light. And Mark was forced to drive away from him.

For some reason Cherry felt empty without Haechan now. The air was colder. Mark kinda wished he had stayed another moment, and watch Haechan get smaller and smaller in the distance as he walked away. Something about him, just drew Mark in. Which was probably a bad thing, come to think of it. He was intriguing, and Mark couldn’t help the fact that he was on his mind.

He just had to get through the next few weeks together. A means to an end. Then they’d go their separate ways. It couldn’t be that bad.

Right?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'll edit this later, sorry.

"And, you agreed to this why?"

Haechan huffed as he looked up at Renjun's judgemental glare. "Why not? He can't be that stupid."

"That's not what I mean and you know it," Renjun was floating a hand over various small crystals. A shop assistant hovering nearby not make sure they didn't catch sticky fingers. "You decided to join a religious choir, a religion you have no interest in, and for that honour you get to tutor a varsity player.” Renjun shook his head in disbelief. “You could volunteer somewhere else why are you doing this?"

"Are you mad it could eat into our time for weekend plans?"

Renjun scoffed. "No Haechan, it's just unlike you. I’m trying to be a good friend."

"The way I see it," Haechan began examining a black onyx. "I get free vocal lessons, it doesn't interfere with work, and best of all I get to practice compulsive lying which seems like a good life skill to have."

"You're insane." Renjun said. "And I swear, if you make the next few weeks the 'poor, oppressed Haechan' show I'm getting new friends, Chenle and Yangyang are still options."

"Ah yes, how are your back-ups?"

Renjun let out a haggard sigh, he looked up at Haechan almost on the brink of tears. "They threatened to take me to a Lakers game."

Haechan furrowed his brow. "Threatened? How did they threaten you?"

"Oh shut up," Renjun finally picked up an oval amethyst geode. "They asked. The worst part is they asked in English so technically I had to congratulate them."

"See this is why you don’t sign up to help the exchange kids. I'd say if you were offered a free trip to L.A. then take it."

"My parents would never let me." Renjun said, looking longingly at the shelf of divination cards.

Harchan's eyes lit up a little. "You finally gonna crack and buy Oracle Cards?"

Renjun let out a pained hum. "I want to... But I can't fit it in my jeans."

"You can borrow my hoodie," Haechan said hopefully, pointing towards the faded black hoodie he was wearing. "Give it back next week, say you spilled coffee on your shirt or something, say it's from Jeno."

"I don't know how they'd feel about me wearing another dude's hoodie."

"Jeno is _painfully_ straight," Haechan watched Renjun gazing at the pack he'd wanted for months. "Come on Renjun, just do it. You'll feel better when you finally do."

Renjun reached out a tentative arm, hesitated again, and then grabbed the pack and marched over to the cash register.

"Woo hoo, finally!" Haechan slapped Renjun's back, a little harder than necessary.

"Ow!" Renjun pushed Haechan's arm away.

The shop assistant coughed behind them, reminding them they were in a small shop full of delicate trinkets. They apologised in unison, and quietly left.

"So what are you gonna ask the cards first?" Haechan said, turning to Haechan as they walked. "Let me guess, you’re going to ask about that mystery crush you won't tell me about."

Renjun rolled his eyes. "You really think that little of me?"

"Well you have to talk about it with someone, and you won't talk about it with me." Haechan sighed. "And I doubt you're talking about it with Chenle or Yangyang," Haechan paused for a second. "It's not either of them?"

Renjun almost choked. "What, no, obviously!"

Haechan let out a mock gasp. "It's not secretly me this whole time?"

"You wouldn't know him, he's in my digital graphics class."

Haechan narrowed his eyes as Renjun kept his head straight ahead. "Is that all I'm getting? I'll drop you as my friend unless you tell me more."

Haechan could just about make out a faint red hue on Renjun's cheeks. "He's tall, and he has black hair. And he's good at Photoshop, way ahead of the rest of us."

"Uh huh." Haechan slurped his diet coke (blood sugar be damned). "And have you spoken to him?"

Renjun's blush got much redder. "He sits right beside me. We talk when we're drawing."

Haechan let out a long whistle. "That's painful," he laughed. "And he has no clue you're into him?"

Renjun sighed. "I'm like, 90% sure he's straight."

"Ouch." Haechan hissed. "Well, what's the other 10%?"

"Haechan it's not a joke."

"I'm sorry," Haechan sighed. "I'm just trying to look on the bright side. If he's doing an art class he's probably at least less homophobic than most guys."

Renjun put his burger down. "Even if, by some miracle he is gay-"

"Or bisexual!"

"Or bisexual, and if by an even bigger miracle he likes me back-"

"Shut up, you're hot."

"It's not like we could date or anything. No dating until college."

"Your parents don't know we're friends. You could pull off a secret relationship."

"I don't know. I'll see what happens."

"Well whatever happens I'm here for you." Haechan put a comforting hand on Renjun's shoulder.

Haechan felt his phone buzz in his jeans.

_Jeno: Are you guys done at the Mall? I’m doing a grocery run for Mom and I need your help._

Haechan groaned as he turned to his friend.

“Jeno said he needs my help for a groceries.”

“Right now? Is he in Boulder?”

Haechan checked the clock on his phone. “I think he just dropped Annie off at work.”

“Well I don’t have to be home until 7pm so we can still hang out.”

Haechan sighed. “Thanks, I’ll make it up to you.”

“Honestly it’s fine,” Renjun looked back down at his Oracle Card deck packed in a little brown bag. “I got everything I needed.”

Overall, Haechan is really happy he’s an only child. It made him closer with his Mom, for better or worse. And he was never lonely at school because the other kids mostly liked him. But most of all, he’s glad that he never got to have a sibling because he couldn’t imagine having to live with a second version of himself. One was enough.

The earliest memory Haechan had was probably when he was playing with the other kids outside their new apartment in Boulder. The neighbourhood kids his age used to play tag on the gritty, ash-coloured sidewalk. One day he went out to join them, skidded while running and had cuts all over his legs. He couldn’t have been older than 3 or 4, so understandably he burst into tears. But none of these kids really knew him or which apartment was his, so he just sat there crying and calling out for his Mom until a nearby parent found her and brought him home.

That’s why when he was a kid he wanted siblings. He thought, since he didn’t have a dad Mom could just make one herself. He asked her incessantly, but obviously never got one. So when he first met Jeno, shy, mild-mannered, scaredy-cat but surprisingly fast at running Jeno, he never expected that he would basically become brothers as teenagers.

Actually no one could’ve expected what their lives would look like when they were younger. At first Haechan and Jeno used to only meet up every other weekend, it was more of a way for their Moms to keep in touch and catch up. All they had to worry about back then was who had shotgun on the Wii, and who could swing higher on the swing set in the park. Uncle Mike was nice too. Being around Jeno was the first time Haechan really got to see what having a dad was like. He’d buy them ice cream on the way home from the park and cook them Mac n’ Cheese when Haechan stayed over. One time he even played ‘Heist’ with them, and pretended to be a security guard while they had to try and steal cupcakes from the kitchen table. Haechan loved Uncle Mike, and even though he’d never say it to Jeno, sometimes he wished Uncle Mike had been his Dad instead.

Eight year old Haechan knew that cancer was a dangerous disease. That people die from it. But kids don’t know what ‘death’ is. Death happens to really old people, when parents get Cancer they get better because they get chemo. Mom had to work more and see Aunt Annie more, which made Haechan mad because while she would spend days either helping Aunt Annie and Uncle Mike and Jeno or working, he had to spend days at friends’ houses. It felt awful, it was like she didn’t even love him anymore. He never got to see his Mom because she was too busy helping them. Eventually in the middle of second grade Mom told him they were moving in with Aunt Annie and her family, which would be great because it meant he’d see Mom again _and_ he’d get to have a sleepover with Jeno every night!

When he first saw Uncle Mike after 3 months he almost knocked him over with a running hug. He felt boney, his face was pale and sunken, and while Uncle Mike was trying his best to look happy and excited for Haechan and his Mom it was clear that nothing was going to be okay.

When 3rd grade started Haechan didn’t get any counselling for Uncle Mike’s death. But Jeno had to spend an hour in the guidance councillor’s office every couple of days. He practically silent for most of the day, he didn’t want to play with other kids, unlike Haechan who wanted to distract himself from the situation. Things got worse before they got better, Jeno became more withdrawn and there wasn’t really anything Haechan could do to help him. But he tried. One night Haechan walked downstairs from Mom and his shared room and found Jeno curled up on the couch crying.

He wasn’t okay for a long time. Until 5th grade really, when they moved to middle school. Mom and Haechan had finally moved out, and Jeno decided to try out for baseball. No one expected him to be great at it, least of all Jeno. But throughout the next two years He started signing up for, and excelling at every team he could join. He started making friends completely separate from Haechan. In fact some of the kids not in their grade didn’t even know the two were related.

By the time they started high school Haechan had become a complete social pariah, Jeno poured all his social ability into the varsity soccer team (which he was even able to join as a freshman.)

At this point, they were closer to siblings both in a good way and in a bad way. They ha been through absolute Hell together, and there wasn’t a doubt in either of their minds that they would always be there for each other. That being said they could both irritate each other beyond belief, and neither of their social circles overlapped in any way. If they were brothers, they were the kind of brothers that unless directly asked would never admit to their relation. And both of them were fully okay with that. Because despite everything, Jeno couldn’t care less about the properties of different crystals, and Haechan couldn’t tell you the difference between a penalty kick and a goal kick if you put a gun to his head.

Jeno, being the dutiful son he was, promptly picked the two of them up right outside the mall. Jeno got his licence as soon as he could but was still stuck driving Annie’s second-hand Honda Civic. Renjun said a quiet ‘hi’ from the back but Haechan just plopped himself in the passenger seat. Jeno was still in his gym clothes, which was unusual for him and caused Haechan to scrunch his eyebrows.

“Did you just have practice or something?”

Jeno sighed loudly. “Coach’s wants us to put in extra practice this weekend for a game next week and I had to do a run before I brought Mom over.”

Haechan let out a loud whistle. “That sucks.”

“Wait is it an important game?” Haechan looked at Renjun in the mirror incredulously. Renjun had never talked about soccer with Jeno before, he barely even spoke to Jeno at all.

Jeno’s eyebrows shot up when he heard Renjun’s voice but he quickly calmed himself before speaking again. “Uh, yeah. It’s against Boulder High.”

“So the team is going to be really busy?” Haechan glared at Renjun in the rear-view mirror as he continued.

“Pretty much,” Jeno shrugged.

“Isn’t that stressful?”

Jeno sighed. “I mean a little bit, but I’m sure it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

“What about if you guys lose?”

Jeno almost turned his head to look at Renjun. “Well I guess it’ll be disappointing, we’ve been working pretty hard so far. I didn’t realise you were interested in soccer Renjun.”

“He’s not!” Haechan interrupted. “Renjun was just curious because one of the exchange students shadowing him asked him about soccer here.”

“Okay.” Jeno say, still a little weirded out by them. Driving on in silence.

Haechan felt another buzz from his phone.

_Therapist: So Mark is going to be stressed out this whole week and you’re still going ahead with this_ _😑_

Haechan rolled his eyes at the text.

_Me: It’s already decided why are you so hung up on this??????_

_Therapist: Because you could do literally any other volunteer work and I don’t think it’s healthy for you to spend a prolong amount of time with someone you’re not going to get along with_

_Me: Look, tbh I kinda think it’ll be funny to join a church choir for shits and giggles, what’s the worst that could happen?_

_Therapist: You get hate crimed_

Haechan had to pause while he thought of a response to that. He hadn’t actually fully considered that Mark was a radical Christian with a large group of friends. If he did have ulterior motives, it could go badly.

Haechan put his phone down for a minute until he felt another text come in.

_Therapist: Haechan I just don’t want you to get hurt_

_Therapist: You don’t have anything to gain from this just quit while you’re ahead._

Haechan re-read the words on the screen. Renjun was right, as usual. But Mark… if Mark wanted to hurt him he would’ve. He wasn’t malicious or cruel like the other sports guys at their school, if he was he would’ve ratted Haechan out already. Helping Mark would help his volunteering and that would help his college application. It was a good deed, and whatever energy you put into the world you reap threefold.

_Me: I know you care about me but I promise everything will be okay. I’ll give you and Jeno my location and I’ll be careful._

Renjun let out a quiet sigh from behind him.

_Therapist: Alright, fine. I can’t convince you so I’ll back off. Just don’t do anything stupid._

Haechan smiled at the text.

_Me: Already have_ _🙃_

Mark had no reason to be nervous. For some reason he had woken up that morning with a familiar nervous energy that he usually only got before a game or a test he didn’t study for. He had already called in the team for an extra early morning practice session, and despite the dirty looks shot his way they were improving. The weather was decent that afternoon but he could hardly enjoy it from the library, which he was leaning up against, cautiously keeping an eye out for a surprise appearance by Haechan.

What was he even worried about? Mark sighed as he fiddled with the straps on his backpack. Mark’s test results didn’t usually wear him down. He had never been the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, his talents were always in sports, and Johnny was the brains between the two of them. But being tutored by someone younger than him? It’s pathetic. Now it makes sense, he was nervous because he felt bad about Haechan tutoring him. That was all.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, the moment Mark turned his head he saw the brown-haired boy rounding the corner. Haechan, from what little Mark had seen of him in their classes so far, was a strange looking dude. He usually wore a multi-coloured combination of sweaters, denim and dress shirts. At the start of the year he had light pink hair but had changed it in the last week or two. He wore more makeup than most girls, it was so obvious even he could notice it. Today was no different it seemed, as he walked up in a neon yellow sweater vest and light blue jeans.

“S’up?”

Mark was a little taken aback at the familiarity of his greeting.

“Oh, hey.” Mark said.

“Shall we begin?” Haechan raised an eyebrow as he pushed open the Library doors. Mark just hummed in approval.

The library was small and smelled like stale air. It was a relatively large building for their town, a decent selection of different books (obviously), but there was also a small computer room, and a closed off soundproof room with desks for people to read or do paperwork at. Washington Heights was a small town, Mark had gone to this library since he was a little kid for story time. But these days it was often vacant, the study room was only really occupied around finals when the school library was over-booked. In other words, the perfect place to meet up with a pagan for tutoring sessions. Today was no different, the study room was completely empty inside. It’s beige carpet silencing their steps as they walked over to a small table away from any widows.

"Ok," Haechan pulled open his textbook. "Let's start with the central nervous system, open your book to page 132."

Mark flipped open the page immediately. Haechan seemed completely prepared, it was totally unlike his rowdy, argumentative behaviour in class.

"This week we have a test on the spinal cord so we'll do some flashcards." Haechan unwrapped a white pack of flashcards, Mark was a little surprised by how plain they were. They were simple white paper and written in black ink, he would’ve expected a bright multi-coloured pack but I guess even Haechan had some seriousness in him.

A small sweat broke out on Mark's brow as Haechan cleared his throat.

"What is the difference between the functions of grey matter and white matter?"

Mark stayed silent. Grey matter was... It was where cells were made? And white matter was the stuff that, the stuff that...

Haechan was staring at him. He had to say something.

"Grey matter makes blood cells and white matter," Mark swallowed dryly. "White, matter, makes white blood cells?"

Haechan looked at Mark with wide eyes. His face looked comical in disbelief. Mark was definitely wrong about white matter, he knew that part didn't even make sense but he couldn't have been that wrong, right? He had to have been like, half right. Right?

"Mark," Haechan's voice was soft but Mark could tell he was holding back his annoyance. "We covered this topic last week weren't you paying attention?"

Mark felt his ears go red. He had been paying attention in class, he just couldn't remember it. It was like, if someone was explaining something to him in the moment he'd get it but as soon as school was finished all that stuff he learned became foggy and he only half-remembered it.

Haechan sighed beside him. "The difference is grey matter contains cell bodies and white matter contains axons."

"Oh." Mark stared down at the book below him. Why did he even show up? Mark's entire face was burning as he stared down at the dark wood table. He was so stupid it was insane. It was hopeless to try and teach him and he was just wasting both of their time.

"Mark?" Haechan was still keeping his voice soft and Mark felt even more ashamed. A sophomore was talking to him like he was a little kid. This sucked. "Mark talk to me, were you paying attention in class last week?"

He finally looked at the boy, anger taking over from self-hate. "I was paying attention. I'm just stupid. Haechan I'm sorry but clearly this isn't going to work," He reached for his backpack. Forget this, he still had some dignity. Haechan wrapped his hand around his wrist.

"No wait!" Haechan licked his lips. "Look I'm sorry if I made you feel dumb. Mark I don't think you're stupid. I promise I can teach you if you just bear with me."

"I'm just not smart Haechan, forget it." He shoved Haechan's hand away. The younger boy looked at him with a furrowed brow.

"We've only just started how can you give up already?"

Mark felt his face flush, but Haechan cut him off before he could reply.

"Would you give up on training just because you thought you might lose a match? Would you give up before you even started training?" Haechan stood up, looking down on Mark like a furious parent. "Mark you'll do fine if you just apply yourself, you don't even seem to be trying."

Mark felt his face go hot. He stood up this time, looking down just a tiny bit at Haechan.

"I am trying! I'm trying really hard! I just can't learn any of this stuff," Mark slammed his book shut. "It doesn't make any sense!"

Haechan opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He closed it again and his eyebrows knit together in thought.

"What?" Mark said sarcastically.

"What do you mean by 'it doesn't make sense?"

Mark huffed. "I don't know, like, how are you supposed to remember all the functions of the spinal cord off the top of your head? You don't even know what the questions are talking about."

Haechan scratched his chin. 'How do you usually study for biology?"

Mark was quiet. "I re-read the book mostly. But that doesn't help much in tests."

Haechan hummed and sat down. "Maybe you're just studying wrong," He looked up at him and coughed. "Sorry, I don't mean that you don't know how to study or whatever. But Biology is pretty heavy and you need a strategy to cram all the information in.

Intrigued, Mark sat down again. "So, like, what do you have in mind then?"

"Mnemonic devices” Haechan said, with either an evil or excited smile. Mark wasn’t fully sure. “First things first, what are the processes of the nervous system?”

“Transmitting signals, categorisation, and responding.”

“Close!” Haechan snapped his fingers. “Detection by receptors, transmission of impulse, sorting and response. There are four overall, D, T, S and R.”

“Okay.” Mark nodded, he knew it was childish but having Haechan go over what they learned in class did actually feel like it was helping.

“These are the building blocks of the nervous system so without them you’ll be totally lost. The way I remember the order is, Dylan Thompson smells rancid.”

Mark’s eyes widened, he let out a shocked laugh. “What?”

“Dylan Thompson?” Haechan raised an eyebrow. “He sits beside the window? Dude hasn’t taken a shower since 8th grade you can smell him from down the hall-“

“No I know who Dylan Thompson is!” Mark shook his head. “Why would you make fun of someone like that it’s cruel?”

“Does it help if I tell you in freshman year he stole my clothes and I had to spend the rest of the day wearing my gym uniform?

Mark didn’t reply to that.

“I’m not making fun of him I’m stating a fact.” Haechan shrugged. “And it’s not like you’ll forget the function of the nervous system with him around.”

Mark opened his mouth, a lot of things were running through his mind right now. Haechan’s mean-spirited nature could be a way of distancing Mark from the Lord. He was already lying to his parents. But, then again, it wouldn’t exactly surprise him to find out Dylan was the kind of person who’d steal people’s clothes during gym.

“What are the functions of the nervous system, Dylan Thompson smells rancid.”

Mark ran his tongue over his bottom lip. Dylan Thompson smells rancid. DTSR…

“Detect, transmit, sort, and respond.”

Haechan’s eyes crinkled at he smiled widely at him. “Exactly! See you can do this, just stick with me and you’ll do fine.”

Mark took a second to really look at Haechan. He actually had a nice smile, objectively speaking. His top lip disappeared a little but that was made up for by the way his shiny brown eyes curved into little crescents. His nose was small and sloped, and though Mark had never realised it before Haechan actually had a few small moles speckled on his face. He was almost, cute? In a way. Not like, cute like a baby, cute like. Cute like someone who’s really cheerful? An optimist.

Yeah, optimist seemed like a good description for Haechan right now. While Mark wasn’t doing terrible right now there was no way any of this stuff would actually work. He didn’t want to turn down Haechan down when he seemed to think they had just made a breakthrough. He’d humour Haechan for an hour or so, but they wouldn’t do this again.

Looking out on the pitch, Mark breathed out a sigh of disappointment. He had hoped the rain would clear by the afternoon but right now it was the worst it had been all day. As the rest of the team looked out none of them looked excited for the next two ours.

“Okay guys!” Mark clapped his hands, looking around the room. “The forecast says the weather will clear by the end of the week so let’s power through this so we can beat those stuck up townies on Saturday.”

A couple of guys let out sarcastic ‘woos’ as they all dismally jogged onto the field.

The extra training last weekend had paid off, the team was now functioning like a well-oiled machine. Perfectly in sync. Coach Henderson was as abusive as ever in his screaming commands, but Mark could tell that he was impressed with their improvement. Though he’d never tell the team outright. The chill from the rain and wind stung his skin as they went through their drills, about halfway through the adrenaline kicked in and Mark felt a swell of energy overtake him. He loved soccer. He loved the sense of accomplishment and the feeling of teamwork he felt when he played, earning coach Henderson’s approval. Most of all he loved how it gave him a purpose, a meaning.

Dad had always said that God gives all people certain abilities, but it is our responsibility to make use of them. Johnny had been the family’s tech support since he was in elementary school. He knew from middle school he was going to work with computers when he was an adult. Mark always admired how his older brother and both his parents were so driven, how none of them stopped to reach their dreams. Mark realised soccer was that to him. When he practiced his toe kicks and ran laps around the garden to get faster he got results. He had something he was good at and he was going to use the gift God gave him to be the best player he could be.

When they finished the rain was little more than a spritz-y drizzle. Everyone was soaked to the skin and a couple of guys were shivering.

“Better than last week,” He heard Coach Henderson call out as the pitch began to clear out. “But don’t get full of yourselves, there’s still a lot of work to do. Mark hang back a second.”

Mark froze. He was just outside the locker room. Confusion (and a pinch of fear) began bubbling up inside him as he made his way back to Coach Henderson.

“Mark,” He coughed. “I thought I’d ask you personally about this, since I know you.” Mark’s stomach felt like it was sinking in dread. “I know, you’re not the kind of person who would lie or cheat.”

Mark’s eyebrows bunched together. Why would he be talking to him about lying? “No sir, of course not.”

Coach Henderson sighed. “I don’t want to think that either. But I was grading your quiz from yesterday.”

Coach Henderson didn’t say anything. He was looking expectantly at Mark, like he should know something. Mark’s throat began to feel dry, he had no idea why Coach would be mad at him. Mark had genuinely tried his best on Monday’s quiz after the two-hour study session with Haechan. Did he still fail? Did he do worse than usual? Mark actually thought he did okay on it, he was at least expecting a pass.

“What, what about it Sir?” Mark swallowed.

“I need to know Mark, if you were cheating.”

Mark’s eyes widened.

“Huh?” His face reddened at his stutter, he shook his head. “No sir, I swear I didn’t cheat.”

Coach Henderson clicked his teeth. “Well I want to believe you Mark, but you got 81%.”

The coach was silent again.

Mark’s face was expressionless.

“What?” He said.

“You got 81%, it’s the best grade you’ve gotten in the past two years in Biology.”

Mark must be hearing things. He got a B. In Biology!

“Can you explain the grade then?”

Mark nodded, not able to help the giant smile plastered on his face. “Yes sir, I actually got a tutor this weekend and we went through some intensive revision for this test.” His hear felt like it was going to explode out of joy. “Did I really get a B?”

Coach Henderson nodded.

“Oh wow,” Mark chuckled. “I can’t believe it. Thank you so much Sir, I’m overjoyed.”

“That’s incredible Mark, I’m proud of you.” If his heart could do backflips Mark’s would right now. “Who’s the tutor?”

Mark paused for a second. “Um, it’s actually my friend. He goes to Lincoln High, all AP classes.”

Coach Henderson made a sound of approval. “Well he’s a good friend, well done to both of you.” He slapped a congratulatory hand on Mark’s shoulder. A couple more study sessions and you’ll pass this test with flying colours.

Mark was on cloud nine on the drive to the Church. He was actually looking forward to seeing Haechan again, he would tell him the good news today rather than tomorrow in class. He practically ran into the community centre, once he was at the door he saw that it was already full. Mom was standing right just in front of the benches, with a scowl on her face.

“Hi Mom, am I late?” Mark asked.

Lines creased his mother’s face. The consequence of smiling or so she said. When she smiled the wrinkles were like an added expression of joy but when she frowned the emotions were just as amplified. As she looked at Mark now there was no mistaking her anger.

“Where have you been?”

“Practice ran late,” He might as well bring up the good news to her now, cheer her up. “I got a B on my last quiz.”

Mom’s eyes opened so fully they looked like they could pop out. “Really?” She said. “Mark that’s fantastic!” Her warming smile re-appeared. “Oh Honey,” She squeezed his bicep. “I’m so proud of you! Well done.”

“I’m sorry I kept everyone waiting.” He apologized.

Mom sighed. “You’re not the one keeping everyone, your friend was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.

Looking around the room again, his Mom was right. Haechan was the only person missing amongst the 25 or so regular attendees.

“Oh,” He scratched the back of his neck. “I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.” Mark could feel his Mom watching him. “Maybe traffic or something.”

Just as they finished speaking he heard the squeak of the door opening and saw the devil himself. He was wearing all black, Black shoes, black jeans, and a black leather jacket. Haechan didn’t care that he was almost fifteen minutes late, with a confidence that was no unearned it was almost funny he began walking in Mark’s direction. Cheerful smile on his face.

“Good evening Mrs. Lee, Mark.”

Whatever ability Haechan must’ve had to join the choir on Friday seemed to have completely evaporated by today, because from the looks of it Mom was about to burst the vein in her forehead. “Haechan you’re fifteen minutes late.” Haechan’s smile began drooping. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I thought you said the first few minutes of every meeting was just chatting with other members and a prayer?” Haechan said glancing at the different groups of choir members absorbed in their own conversations.

“Yes,” Mom narrowed her eyes at Haechan. “I expected you to join us.” If Mark didn’t know better he would’ve thought he saw Haechan pale slightly.

“O-Oh,” He said softly. “I didn’t realise that included the younger members.” Until last week, Mark and Johnny were the only people under 30 who participated in the choir each year. Now it was just Mark.

“If you’re a member of the choir you are expected to participate fully in all activities.” She seethed. “Since this is your first time here I’ll forgive you but let me make one thing clear young man, if there’s one thing I will not tolerate it is disrespect. Understood?”

“Yes Ma’am.” He said.

“Good.” Mom relaxed. “Alright then, let’s begin.” She cleared her throat. “Everyone gather round we’ll begin now!” Slowly the congregation gathered to sit on the benches to they were all facing the front of the room. “I’d like to welcome everyone back, it’s good to see this year we have the same group with us.” Mark recognized everyone in the room, they had been coming to the church since he was a child. Some had adult children that had moved out and some had babysat him when they were in high-school, but all of them knew each other personally. And all had now noticed the literal black sheep in the room. Some making disapproving faces in his direction when he wasn’t looking. Not that Haechan seemed to notice or perhaps care.

“This year we have a new member of the flock with us,” Mom clapped her hands together. “Everyone this is Haechan Lee, no relation.” A few insincere laughs could be heard from the pew. “Haechan has decided to forge a brand new relationship with the Lord. And what better way to do that then through song?”

Mark could see them all scrutinizing Haechan, glares of disapproval, narrowed eyes, a few people just nodded their heads at the new curiosity, but none looked outright friendly. Could he really judge though? He had treated Haechan with the exact same suspicion when he first joined as well.

“Haechan as you know we always begin with a prayer, so if everyone could link arms we can begin.”

After linking arms and praying in unison, they began properly. Since Haechan had shown up late they didn’t have time to go through introductions, and since he didn’t know any choir songs he was asked to sit out the first part of the meeting until he heard how the songs sounded. Mom first had them go over the songs they had done last year to see how everyone’s voices were. No major changes from what Mark could pick up. Again, though he was usually the youngest, Mark liked being in the choir because it gave him the same feeling of teamwork that the soccer team did. Normally he could just lose himself in the words meant for the Lord.

When they were half way through Mom turned towards Haechan.

“So, as you can see it’s nothing do difficult. Based on your audition last week you’ll fit right in with the tenors.” Haechan smiled and nodded as she passed him the sheet music. “You and Mark are about the same height so you can go and stand next to him.

No further nudging needed, Haechan moved to the second last row and squeezed in beside him.

“Ok let’s try again on What a mighty God we serve.”

The piano began, Mark took a deep breath in. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about what Haechan’s singing voice sounded like. He already had a pretty high voice, it was no surprise he was a tenor. But whatever Mark had imagined, he hadn’t expected the male version of Mariah Carey. Haechan sang with a very high, but somehow still soulful voice. It didn’t sound like there was any classical training but there had to be some sort of practice. Either that or a gift. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who noticed, a few heads turned in their direction. Haechan’s voice added a whole new layer of depth and harmony to the music that was unmistakable.

When they finished Mom smiled broadly. “Well done everyone that was great for the first real practice of this year. Haechan you did great.”

From the corner of his eye Mark could just about make out a small, smug smile on Haechan’s face. He understood now why Mom had accepted him with such little hesitance, and why Haechan had been so confident in joining. He was good, better than good, and he knew it.

Mark wasn’t usually a jealous person, he had an older brother, he was used to getting hand-me-downs, and Dad had always preached about the importance of humility. However, he had been in this choir since he was a middle schooler. He had gone to pretty much every meeting whether he wanted to or not. And this, heathen had just shown up and effortlessly wowed the entire group.

As they continued with the rehearsal Haechan’s vocal ability became more and more obvious. He was always on key, had no trouble with high notes, he was the kind of singer that you could only be in awe of. But despite his best efforts, Mark couldn’t help the resentment slowly building up within him.

When they finished Haechan wasted no time in getting away from him, Mark simply watched him go, moving out of his seat sluggishly. It was well past 8pm and everyone looked tired making their goodbyes. He should tell Haechan about the grade, thank him for his help. Call it pride but Mark almost didn’t want to give him the satisfaction after completely blowing him out of the water today. As he began picking up everyone’s sheet music and waving goodbye he heard Mom call him again. Haechan was standing beside her, shuffling from foot to foot.

“Mark will you drive Haechan home again?” She was beaming at him, probably still excited she found such an undiscovered gem for the choir.

“It’s really alright.” Haechan said almost silently, not looking Mom in the eyes.

She turned to face him. “Nonsense, we look out for our own in this flock. And it’s the least I could do for our newest star.”

Haechan’s cheeks reddened just a touch, but the compliment felt like a sharp pain entering Mark’s heart.

“No problem,” Mark curtly replied.

“I’ll clean up,” Mom turned back to collecting the sheet music. “See you next week Haechan.”

Things weren’t as awkward as they had been the week before, two hours of intensive study will do that. But Haechan was practically buzzing with excitement as they walked over to Cherry.

“So,” He nudged Mark’s shoulder. “What do you think?”

“Uh,” Mark looked away from Haechan, suddenly fixated on where Cherry was parked in the parking lot. “About what?”

“About the weather.” Mark could just tell from Haechan’s voice that he was rolling his eyes. “How was my singing?”

Mark had to stop himself from sighing. “Didn’t Mrs. Lee already praise you?” He didn’t sound angry, he was doing his best to keep up a façade of boredom.

“Yes but I wouldn’t mind hearing it from you as well.”

This time Mark was the one rolling his eyes. “You sounded fine.”

Haechan hummed. “I think I sounded great. I haven’t sang publically since middle school.”

“Did you practice?” Mark couldn’t help himself asking as he unlocked Cherry.

“Nope!” Haechan said, making a popping sound on the ‘p’. “Pure talent, my guy.”

Mark let out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a scoff. The way Haechan spoke was utterly bizarre, it was like an undercover cop trying to fit in at a high-school in some bad teen drama. ‘My guy’? Haechan was so self-absorbed yet he didn’t even talk like a normal teenager.

“Just wish you had told me you can’t skip the ‘pre-practice chit chat’.”

“I thought that would have been a given.” Mark said, turning on the ignition. Checking behind him he got a good look at Haechan’s diet-goth outfit. “Why did you wear all black to a church event?”

Haechan furrowed his brow. “What’s wrong with it? This is the only stuff I own that’d be church appropriate.”

Mark let out a light chuckle. “It’s not at all church appropriate. Don’t you have like, khakis or something? A normal shirt.” Mark hoped it didn’t show, but it did give him some satisfaction that despite his amazing singing Haechan had still unknowingly embarrassed himself with his clothing.

Haechan shook his head. “All the stuff I own is probably inappropriate.”

Mark couldn’t really argue with that, everything he had seen Haechan wear to school had bordered on a dress code violation. Not that Mark cared about fashion but it was hard to avoid when Coach Henderson always complained about the things he war. On the second week of school they had got into a pretty heated argument about him wearing a mesh undershirt with a pink crop top. Yeah, the black outfit was probably the best option.

“Try to buy something as soon as possible.” Haechan could have the most amazing voice in the world but it would only be so helpful if he got kicked out of the group for his clothes.

Haechan sighed as he sank further into the passenger seat. “Sure, I’ll find something I guess.”

Mark felt a little more relaxed driving Haechan tonight. The rainclouds had cleared and the stars were visible now. When Mark was little Johnny had told him that all stars were shooting stars, and at any time one could crash into Earth and kill everyone. Mark was so scared the bigger, brighter stars were getting closer and everyone was going to die. Looking back now it was pretty funny, but at the time Mark was genuinely afraid for his life. But it gave him the benefit of watching the stars from a young age. Whenever he went somewhere with a clear sky, where you could see galaxies light-years away with the naked eye Mark couldn’t help watching them in amazement.

Haechan was humming something beside him, annoyingly well. Mark gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. He was being petty and irrational. It didn’t make sense that Haechan’s musical ability bothered him this much. He should just be happy that he wasn’t causing trouble with the group. But, Mark really, _really_ couldn’t help it. He loved singing, he loved the choir, he tried his best and even though he knew his voice wasn’t the greatest, it wasn’t the worst either. And now someone who didn’t even believe in God was stealing the spotlight from everyone else. It wasn’t fair.

“Can’t you drop me off at the top of the road again?” Haechan said, interrupting Mark’s train of thought.

He took a moment before responding. “Sure.”

Haechan was staring out the passenger window. Completely absorbed in his own world. He probably lived in his own dreamland most of the time, not caring about anyone or anything and still succeeding while other people had to work really hard just to reach his level.

This was ridiculous. Mark was acting like a child. Jealousy was polluting his mind. Haechan, despite his many, many faults, wasn’t that bad. They wouldn’t be friends, Mark already knew that, but he deserved credit where it was due.

Mark took a deep breath. They were turning into Haechan’s neighbourhood. Just say it. Be a good person.

“Mr. Henderson gave me the result of our last quiz,” Haechan’s head turned immediately in Mark’s direction. “I got a B.”

Haechan didn’t speak for a moment. “Wait for real?” He laughed loudly. Haechan’s laugh was really loud, like everything else around him it commanded attention. But it was, sort of nice? It really displayed his happiness. “That’s awesome Mark. I told you I could teach you, didn’t I?”

Mark chuckled softly. “Yeah, thanks.”

They were at the same place Mark had dropped him off last Friday now. Mark stopped the car.

“So same time same place this week?” Haechan asked with a waggle of his eyebrows. “I work four days a week and Saturday’s my day off so Sunday is the only day I can tutor.”

Mark nodded. “That’s fine.”

“Cool.” Haechan stepped out of Cherry and hunched down to look at Mark. “I’ll see you tomorrow then Mark.” Haechan closed the door and started walking back to his house. “See ya!”

“See ya.” Mark heard himself say, though he knew Haechan could no longer hear him. He stayed, watching Haechan walk home under the orange streetlamps getting smaller and smaller away from him.

Haechan was an anomaly. No one would guess he was a straight-A student based on his behaviour. His decision to join Mark’s church was nonsensical, yet here he was. For better or worse, their arrangement was set in stone now. Mark could keep a secret for a little bit, it wasn’t really hurting anyone.

Didn’t he say he hadn’t sang publically since middle school? Mark started the car again, ready to drive home. If he knew he had such a good voice why had he stopped?

Mark checked outside his window one last time. Haechan was gone.

The drive back home was the same as last week. Nothing in particular was different but it felt emptier. Different. Maybe Cherry was missing Haechan, and his dumb, stupid, weirdly cute smile.


End file.
